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NetNewsWire Lite 2.1 - RSS News Feed Reader

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By , About.com Guide

NetNewsWire Lite - RSS News Feed Reader

NetNewsWire Lite - RSS News Feed Reader

Heinz Tschabitscher

The Bottom Line

NetNewsWire Lite is a simple way to read the news that come via RSS. It comes with tons of feeds already in the "sites drawer" so you can start immediately. Don't expect advanced features, though.
NetNewsWire Lite is no longer available separately. NetNewsWire is also free, though.

Pros

  • NetNewsWire Lite is elegant, simple and easy to use
  • Good HTML support and custom style sheets let you personalize news appearance in NetNewsWire Lite
  • NetNewsWire Lite comes with a long and good list of feeds already configured

Cons

  • NetNewsWire Lite lacks search and filters
  • No flagging, grouping or labeling let you organize news in NetNewsWire Lite
  • NetNewsWire Lite cannot synchronize multiple installations

Description

  • NetNewsWire Lite is an RSS and Atom feed aggregator and reader.
  • NetNewsWire Lite displays news and blog entries in a familiar email-like three-pane interface.
  • Automatic RSS feed discovery makes it easy to add new channels to NetNewsWire Lite.
  • Additionally, NetNewsWire Lite comes with hundreds of RSS feeds pre-configured for subscription.
  • Channels can be grouped by topic in NetNewsWire Lite.
  • The NetNewsWire Lite Dock icon displays the number of unread items and their headlines per channel.
  • NetNewsWire uses Web Kit/Safari to display news items and supports custom style sheets.
  • NetNewsWire Lite supports Mac OS X 10.3/4.

Guide Review - NetNewsWire Lite 2.1 - RSS News Feed Reader

A tool for reading RSS feeds can be simple and very useful at the same time. NetNewsWire Lite is light in features but not in usability.

Subscribe to feeds (the long list of pre-configured RSS feeds in the drawer and automatic feed detection make it really easy), and start reading. You can even customize the display using a custom style sheet. Folders let you organize and read your channels in NetNewsWire Lite, and the useful Dock icon not only shows you how many new items there are, you can immediately browse them, too.

If you want to do anything but merely reading news, NetNewsWire Lite is lacking in features, though. A way to search or filter news is particularly missed, and NetNewsWire Lite does not allow you to synchronize multiple installations. Feed enclosures and podcasts are not well supported in NetNewsWire Lite either.

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